Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Michigan Operations
(PCAP) Notice for the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw River; The Dow
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has determined that IRAs
for portions of the Tittabawassee River are necessary in accordance with Conditions
XI.B.9. and XI.G. of the hazardous waste management facility operating license
(License) issued to Dow on June 12, 2003, pursuant to Part 111, Hazardous Waste
Management, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451,
as amended (Act 451). In some cases these IRAs are a continuation of work that Dow
Pursuant to Condition XI.G.1. of the License, Dow is required to submit written IRA Work
Plan(s) to the Chief of the Waste and Hazardous Materials Division (WHMD) for review
and approval within 60 days of this notification. Condition XI.B.9. of the License provides
that the WHMD Chief may require Dow to implement IRAs to prevent, minimize, or
mitigate injury to public health, safety, welfare, or the environment in accordance with
Condition XI.G. of the License at any of the specific off-site area(s) identified in Condition
XI.B.2. of the License (which includes the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw River
sediments and/or floodplain) at any time during the corrective action process where
information indicates that injury has, or may have, resulted directly or indirectly from the
facility. Condition XI.G. of the License requires such activities to conform with or be
Consistent with discussions held between Dow and the MDEQ in 2007, and most
recently on March 25, 2008, the MDEQ supports the implementation of certain IRAs,
of these PCAPs may be used to address areas that require IRAs and/or possibly final
corrective actions in other portions of the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw River. Mr.
At this time, the MDEQ has determined that the following IRAs are necessary for the
Reach D
1. Dow recently notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the
MDEQ that the performance-based work required by the July 2007, CERCLA
Removal Order was complete and that Dow would begin restoration activities at
Reach D beginning in April 2008. During the March 25, 2008, meeting between Dow
and the MDEQ, Dow was notified by the MDEQ that additional corrective action work
would be necessary at the Reach D area because elevated levels of dioxins and
specifically addressed by the CERCLA removal action, remain at levels that require
further interim response work. Dow and the MDEQ agreed to a follow-up meeting
with the U.S. EPA to further discuss these issues; that meeting took place on April 3,
2008. During the meeting on April 3, 2008, the MDEQ, Dow, and the U.S. EPA
agreed that in order to close out work under the CERCLA Removal Order, Dow
this meeting, the verification sampling is to include analysis for dioxin and furans as
well as: (a) the list of other contaminants of concern and (b) detailed descriptions of
This would complete work required under the CERCLA Removal Order and
would be conducted under an IRA Work Plan approved by the MDEQ. This work is
monitoring. Although not discussed during the meeting on April 3, 2008, it may
appropriate to evaluate this area as a candidate for the design and operation of a
sediment trap, depending on the results of the additional characterization work and
Plan Large areas of bank erosion are present along the Tittabawassee River. In
many cases these eroding areas are highly contaminated with dioxins and furans.
Consistent with the U.S. EPA’s December 2005 Contaminated Sediment Guidance
eroding banks in the upper six miles of the Tittabawassee River Study Area, the
MDEQ is now requiring Dow to prioritize and propose three areas where bank
stabilization will be implemented in 2008. In addition to controlling active sources of
contamination early, the goal of these projects would be to evaluate the effectiveness
of bank stabilization technologies for further use along the Tittabawassee River.
Monitoring before and after bank stabilization will be necessary for this evaluation.
As previously discussed with Dow, the MDEQ and the Natural Resource Damage
have a “soft footprint” and are less intrusive than the CERCLA removal action proposed
and implemented by Dow on Reach J/K. The MDEQ has identified several areas that are
of high concern along the upper and middle Tittabawassee River, and we would like to
discuss these areas with Dow in light of the data that was submitted on March 1, 2008
(2007 Tittabawassee River Characterization Report), and April 1, 2008 (River Bank
Stabilization Pilot Corrective Action Project Report for the Tittabawassee River). The
MDEQ considers this work to be a very high priority. Without controls to stabilize or
remove active eroding bank sources, any other areas in the river channel or on the
floodplain that have had remedial actions completed are at risk of becoming
recontaminated.
3. Saginaw River Sediment Trap Pilot Ongoing studies that have been conducted under
designing and proceeding with a pilot sediment trap on the Saginaw River. The
February 1, 2008, Saginaw River and Bay Scope of Work (SRB SOW) Approval with
Modifications requires Dow to begin removing sediments from the Saginaw River as
an IRA. Consistent with the SRB SOW Approval with Modifications, Dow is required
to develop and submit a work plan to begin removing sediments from the Sixth Street
2007, Dow identified a number of areas where high levels of contamination are
otherwise stabilize, where necessary, any areas in the Tittabawassee River where
sediment concentrations in the upper one foot the of sediment profile exceed 10,000
parts per trillion (ppt) TEQ. Where sediment concentrations are greater than 10,000
removal or capping of these areas. In the cases of the Reach L and Reach J/K
deposits, Dow has indicated that these deposits are stable in the short term and are
unlikely to be remobilized by routine river events, and Dow has not proposed
removal or stabilization of these deposits as IRAs. The MDEQ has identified several
technical concerns with Dow’s evaluation and as an IRA is now requiring Dow to
develop and submit additional data to confirm the short-term stability of these
deposits and to provide additional empirical data on the behavior of these types of
information early in the 2008 field season in order to determine if it will be necessary
concentrations in excess of 10,000 ppt TEQ that were identified at Reach J/K need
of these deposits will need to be sequenced with the removal and/or stabilization of
The following additional information is needed in order to evaluate Dow’s conclusion that
the Reach L and Reach J/K deposits are stable in the short term:
Samples of the high TEQ material and the “cap” material need to be evaluated
for the other Dow-related PCOIs. Note that the diffusion modeling conducted in
the Dow analysis is likely to be more appropriate for the nondioxin PCOIs.
· Bedload and suspended load sampling conducted on, and adjacent to, upstream
· Repetition of high resolution bathymetry in late spring of 2008 so that the geometry
(i.e., scour chains and elevation surveys of the top of sediment) over the spring
and summer.
· Additional information on the modeling that was conducted to evaluate the potential
for scour:
- Does the modeling take into account the upstream bridge structures at
- What were the results of the model for the 7-10 year flood event and
- What would be the effect of ice damming and/or ice scour on the upper Reach
structure?
The above information will also be useful in the future evaluation of in-channel deposits
5. Continued Signage and Advisory Outreach on the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw
River
The escrow account that Dow funded to address the placement of advisory signage
along the Tittabawassee River has been exhausted. The posting of additional signs and
the replacement and maintenance of the original signs on the Tittabawassee River and
Saginaw River needs to continue to be addressed as an IRA to advise the public to limit
In addition, since the MDEQ’s supply of the informational pamphlets that were produced
as part of the Communications IRA for use in public outreach activities is nearly
depleted, Dow needs to provide additional copies of these pamphlets to the MDEQ. Mr.
escrow account so that sign placement and maintenance can continue. Dow is also
required to provide 1000 copies each of the Health Questions - Dioxins and Furans and
Reducing Exposure at Homes informational pamphlets and 300 copies of the Reducing
Exposure from Agricultural Activities informational pamphlets to the MDEQ for continued
6. Work Plan to Address the Disturbance and Management of Soils in Areas with
Based upon the dioxin and furan investigation results to date that show the portions of
the Tittabawassee River floodplain that are contaminated with greater than 1,000 ppt
TEQ dioxins and furans, Dow is required submit the “Appendix C - Work Plan to Address
Contamination” portion of the Communications IRA Work Plan that was deferred for later
review and approval at the time the Communications IRA Work Plan was approved in
October 2004. In particular, as part of this IRA, Dow is to provide a notification to the
Miss Dig system of the areas where safety and soil handling precautions should be
taken by utility workers, residents, etc. for any construction activities in these areas. The
MDEQ can provide Dow with a copy of the previous working draft of the Appendix C
language.
In conjunction with this IRA, the MDEQ also requires Dow to submit a work plan for
working with the MDEQ to develop and print the informational pamphlet, Management of
Disturbed Soils and Dredged Sediments, required in Section 2.2, Informational Materials
to be Developed, of the February 2004 Communications IRA Work Plan that was
Areas Where Follow-up IRAs are Likely to be Necessary in the Near Future
The MDEQ, in coordination with U.S. EPA and the Michigan Department of Community
Tittabawassee River where the MDEQ has determined that there is high potential for
human exposure to dioxins and furans at levels that may require additional IRAs beyond
those implemented by Dow in 2005 and 2006. Following the review of sampling results
and data interpretation for sampling that is currently being conducted at the Riverside
Boulevard Area and the West Michigan Park Area, the MDEQ, in consultation with the
U.S. EPA, MDCH, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, will
Although the MDEQ is not requiring additional IRAs in these areas at this time, it is quite
possible, based on initial chemical characterization information, that IRAs beyond those
completed in 2005 and 2006 by Dow, will be required in the near future.
Schedule
As noted above, Condition XI.G.1. of the License requires Dow to submit a written IRA
Work Plan to the Chief of the WHMD for review and approval within 60 days after the
licensee receives written notification by the WHMD Chief that IRAs are necessary.
the meantime, the MDEQ remains available to meet with Dow to discuss the specific
Sincerely,
517-373-9523